consumer products news stories on Newser

4 Products Going the Way of the Dodo

Sarah Whitmire — Sat, 13 Aug 2011 11:08:42 CDT

Another casualty of the recession could be your favorite deodorant: As consumers flock toward store brands and stores in turn look to downsize, the result is the death of some of America's best-known consumer products, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports. "As we shrink the size of stores, a number of products...

Tainted Chinese Milk Yanked From Shelves—Again

Mary Papenfuss — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 03:45:58 CST

In the latest consumer product scandal to hit China, authorities have ordered milk contaminated with toxic melamine yanked from market shelves. The recall occurs a year after hundreds of thousands of children were sickened by a similar contamination. Products in southern China from three companies were found to contain melamine....

Wal-Mart Plans Eco-Rating Labels

Harry Kimball — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 18:15:17 CDT

Wal-Mart plans to begin asking suppliers to provide info on the environmental impact of their operations so the store can put so-called green rating labels on its products, the Wall Street Journal reports.The first cards probably won't appear for a few years, but given Wal-Mart's clout as the world's...

Retailers Slash Selection in Response to Recession

Kevin Spak — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 09:51:01 CDT

A fundamental shift is going on in the consumer product world as retailers decide that less is more, the Wall Street Journal reports. Big national retailers are expected to slash selection by at least 15%, analysts say. Gone will be 30% of Kroger’s cereals, 20 of the 24 tape measures...

Obama Picks New Consumer Safety Chair

Matt Cantor — Tue, 05 May 2009 07:59:51 CDT

President Obama is turning to South Carolina's former education superintendent to head an expanded Consumer Product Safety Commission, an embattled agency that has been criticized by advocates for being too cozy with industry, the AP reports. The president was set today to propose two more seats on the panel and...

Requiem for the View-Master

Harry Kimball — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 18:30:00 CDT

Fisher-Price isn’t stopping production on its 3-D viewer, the View-Master, but it will no longer produce the huge catalog of picture-wheels that have delighted and enlightened generations of Americans, laments the Economist . The company will publish just a small number of children’s reels for the device that gave us 3-D...

Amazon Leads Charge Against Clamshell Packaging

Harry Kimball — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 16:05:43 CST

Stories of angry and even injured customers have inspired companies to ditch sealed clamshell packaging for easy-to-open alternatives, the New York Times reports. Amazon leads the pack, working with suppliers to ship products in plain cardboard boxes ahead of the holidays. Even some offline companies, which rely on clamshells to...

Shopping in US Looks Like the 1970s: Analyst

Caroline Zimmerman — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 20:01:45 CDT

Retailers and marketers are closely watching American shopping trends, knowing that recession habits can linger for years, the AP reports. Studies show that 63% of Americans have cut down spending by coupon-cutting, biking to work, and buying store brands. They're also buying smaller cars and shopping at discounters. "We are...

Most Returned Electronics Aren't Broken

Laila Weir — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 18:30:04 CDT

Just 5% of the electronics that consumers return to stores actually don’t work, though often the buyers believe they’re broken, a new study says. In 68% of cases, “they thought it was defective when it wasn't, or there was an expectation gap,” an executive of the firm releasing the study...